Department for Transport

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Mr David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department allocated to each local authority in  (a) Suffolk, (b) Bedfordshire, (c) Cambridgeshire, (d) Hertfordshire, (e) Norfolk and (g) England for road improvement in each year since 1997.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The table below lists the funding the Department for Transport has allocated to (a) Suffolk, (b) Bedfordshire, (c) Cambridgeshire, (d) Hertfordshire, (e) Norfolk and (g) England for road improvement for which records are available:YearSuffolkBedfordshire*CambridgeshireHertfordshireNorfolkEngland00/018.54.07.39.59.2514.401/0221.07.115.122.629.21,074.002/0320.06.615.523.529.51,123.403/0420.67.418.122.129.41,178.504/0522.28.022.021.633.01,308.405/0622.69.421.021.229.31,212.406/0723.69.621.423.930.51,262.707/0821.57.820.324.232.51,245.008/0923.08.721.425.631.41,456.109/1021.79.219.425.930.51,552.010/1123.29.518.926.532.11,552.111/1227.210.417.830.635.21,482.612/1321.89.114.824.826.71,227.913/1424.317.316.827/230.41,576.214/1533.914.820.332.960.82,025.2* from 2010/11 Bedfordshire split into the 2 unitary authorities of Central Bedfordshire and Bedford and therefore this figure is the sum of their allocations. This table includes funding we have provided through the local Highways Maintenance Block, Integrated Transport Block, Severe Weather Funding, Local Major Projects and Local Pinch Point Fund schemes. The table does not include funding provided through the Bus Service Operators Grant, Local Sustainable Transport Fund, or Cycling Grant. The Department is also funding local highways maintenance projects in Portsmouth, Birmingham, Sheffield, Isle of Wight and the London Borough of Hounslow through the Private Finance Initiative.  Local authorities are also able to use revenue funding, allocated by the Department of Communities and Local Government through the Revenue Support Grant for maintaining their local highways. It is for local highway authorities to decide upon their spending priorities across the whole range of services that they provide.

Roads: Capital Investment

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2014 to Question 216534, on strategic roads enhancement, whether the 11 schemes committed to subject to additional contributions are included in the £15.2 billion total given in that Answer.

Mr John Hayes: Government’s contribution to the 11 schemes that are committed subject to other contributions is included in the £15.2 billion total for the enhancement and long term maintenance of the network between 2015/16 and 2020/21.

Large Goods Vehicles

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if the Government will support the proposal being considered by the EU Council on the safer HGV cab design to improve safety for cyclists.

Claire Perry: The Government is fully committed to road safety for all road users. We therefore support the main aims of the proposed revision to directive 96/53/EC to enable extra length for improved aerodynamic and safer HGV cab design.

Transport: Accidents

Mr David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many children died or were injured travelling to or from school or college in the 11 months ending July 2014.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Department does not hold any information specifically on whether a child was travelling to or from school or college. Nor does the Department have full detailed records of casualties for accidents that have occurred in 2014 available. Data for 2014 will be available in June 2015. The table below gives the number of children, split into pre-school children aged under 4, and school-aged children aged between 4 and 16 inclusive, who were killed or injured in reported road traffic accidents between 7.30 am and 8.59 am, or between 3.00 pm and 4.59 pm on a school day in 2013. The table does not include any accidents that occurred at the weekend or during school holidays. The school holidays used are those defined by the local education authority in which the accident occurred. Reported child casualties in accidents occurring between 7.30 and 8.59 am, or between 3.00 and 4.59 pm on a school day, by age, severity and month, Great Britain: 2013 Aged between 4 and 16 inclusiveAged under 4 KilledSeriously injuredSlightly injuredKilledSeriously injuredSlightly injuredJanuary0563860030February1562930122March1774061428April0482940329May1483590323June1674841334July0523440418August0517003September3864980540October1715240726November1695010426December2453350227

Department for Communities and Local Government

Affordable Housing: Construction

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many affordable homes were completed on released public sector land sites in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) 2014; and how many he expects to be built on such sites in 2015.

Brandon Lewis: Our records show that 217,000 new affordable homes have been delivered in England across all housing schemes since 2010. As has been explained to the hon. Member in answers to previous questions, this information is not broken down by (former) public land status.

Housing: Construction

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much was spent on the Get Britain Building Scheme in (a) 2011, (b) 2012, (c) 2013 and (d) 2014.

Brandon Lewis: Get Britain Building is a three-year scheme to provide development finance to unlock stalled sites. As explained to the hon. Member in the answer to her of 13 March 2014, Official Report, Column 312W, the prospectus for the first round of Get Britain Building programme was published on 22 December 2011. The prospectus for the second round was published on 21 June 2012. In both cases, the expressions of interest received after each prospectus were followed by due diligence and a contract agreement process. In that light, there was no expenditure in 2011, £29 million in 2012, £281 million in 2013 and (up to November 2014) £132 million in 2014. Across financial years, we anticipate expenditure of £159 million in 2012-13, £213 million in 2013-14 and £125 million in 2014-15. The programme should come in slightly under the budget headroom due to improving market conditions. Each contract agreement includes arrangements for the financial drawdowns under the facility, and there may be a number of drawdowns as a site is built out. Since interest is payable on the loans, contractors drawdown the agreed development finance as needed. This explains why the expenditure is incurred over the course of the programme rather than up front; however, the existence of the finance facility in itself gives developers the confidence and financial security to get building again.

Housing: Construction

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many homes were completed on released public sector land sites in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) 2014; and how many are expected to be built on such sites in 2015.

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many public sector land sites have been released for the purpose of building affordable housing since 2010.

Brandon Lewis: At the end of September 2014, the Public Sector Land Programme has disposed of land capable of delivering almost 90,000 homes in England. Our goal is to dispose of land with capacity of 100,000 homes by the end of March 2015.

Local Government: Staff

Mike Crockart: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much was paid in compensation to local authority staff as a result of a dog-related injury at work in 2013.

Kris Hopkins: This information is not held centrally.

Pay

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of (a) his Department's staff and (b) staff working for companies contracted by his Department are paid less than the Living Wage.

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of (a) his Department's staff and (b) staff working for companies contracted by his Department who are paid less than the Living Wage are (i) white British and (ii) from an ethnic minority background.

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of (a) his Department's staff and (b) staff working for companies contracted by his Department who are paid less than the Living Wage are (i) women and (ii) men.

Kris Hopkins: The Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies do not currently employ any staff earning less than the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

Council Tax: Arrears

Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much is owed in council tax arrears in (a) Barnsley local authority area, (b) South Yorkshire and (c) the UK.

Kris Hopkins: As at 31 March 2014, Barnsley council reported that the cumulative council tax arrears in their area was £11.1 million. The corresponding figure for South Yorkshire (i.e. Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham & Sheffield) was £68.9 million. The total cumulative council tax arrears as at 31 March 2014 for the whole of England was £2.53 billion. We do not produce figures for the UK. The figures are calculated by adding the amount of council tax that was uncollected within the year to the council tax arrears brought forward, less any receipts received in respect of previous years’ arrears, less any council tax written off as uncollectable. In our best practice document, “50 ways to save”, we listed improving council tax collection rates and reducing arrears as a key way of making sensible savings to help keep overall council tax bills down and protect frontline services. Every penny of council tax that is not collected means a higher council tax for the law-abiding citizen who does pay on time. It is important that councils are sympathetic to those in genuine hardship, are proportionate in enforcement and do not overuse bailiffs. However, these figures show that there is a significant source of income for councils, which they could use to support frontline service or cut council tax bills.

Housing: Construction

Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many new housing starts there were in (a) Barnsley East constituency, (b) Barnsley local authority area, (c) South Yorkshire and (d) the UK in each of the last four years.

Brandon Lewis: Statistics on house building starts for the UK are published in the Department’s live table 208 and starts in Barnsley District and South Yorkshire are published in the live table 253, which is available on the following link: http://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building Housebuilding statistics are not available at the constituency level.I would also note that council tax base statistics show that over 700,000 new homes have been delivered in England since the end of 2009.

Fire Services

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the general (a) minimum fitness standard and (b) at risk standard where firefighters are allowed to continue on operational duties for a limited period while they undergo remedial fitness in respect of each fire and rescue service in England.

Penny Mordaunt: There is no national fitness standard for firefighters in England. It is the responsibility of individual fire and rescue authorities to put in place appropriate fitness standards for their employees.

Local Government Finance

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he expects to publish the provisional local government finance settlement for England, 2015 to 2016.

Kris Hopkins: The Department for Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Fire Services

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many redeployment opportunities there are within the Fire and Rescue Service to accommodate firefighters who are unable to maintain an operational fitness standard.

Penny Mordaunt: We do not keep data on redeployment opportunities for firefighters. If a person has a permanent medical condition preventing them undertaking their role, they would be eligible for ill health retirement.The role of firefighters has changed dramatically over recent years. Firefighters engage in more specialist roles and work more closely with the community to prevent fires and reduce other risks. More diverse roles demand new approaches to workforce management and these provide the opportunities for a more diverse workforce, including older workers, bringing a wider range of skills and experience to bear in serving their communities, and a more sophisticated approach to measuring operational fitness.

Fire Services

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish the Government's response to the Firefighter Fitness Standards and Assessment: Consultation on amendment to the fire and rescue national framework published on 28 October 2014.

Penny Mordaunt: We intend to publish my Department's response to the consultation on Firefighters Standards and Assessment shortly.

Affordable Housing: Warrington

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many affordable homes (a) for rent and (b) to buy have been built in Warrington in each year since 2009-10.

Brandon Lewis: Statistics on additional affordable housing provided in each local authority area in England are published in the Department’s live tables 1006 (social rent), 1006a (affordable rent), 1007 (intermediate housing) and 1008 (all affordable housing), which are available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply These figures include both newly built housing and acquisitions.Since April 2010, 940 affordable homes have been delivered in Warrington.

Council Tax: North West

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the total amount of uncollected council tax was in (a) Warrington and (b) the North West in each financial year since 2009-10.

Kris Hopkins: The Department for Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Non-domestic Rates: Empty Property

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to reform empty property rates.

Kris Hopkins: Holding answer received on 11 December 2014



We announced at the 2014 Autumn Statement an extra £650 million of support for 2015-16 business rates bills, bringing the total support from 2013 and 2014 Autumn Statement measures to £1.4 billion in 2015-16. This help includes: doubling Small Business Rate Relief for a further year (2015-16);a 2% cap on the inflation increase for 2015-16 (for the second consecutive year);increasing the temporary discount for shops, pubs and restaurants with rateable values below £50,000 from £1,000 to £1,500 for 2015-16;extending the existing transitional relief scheme for two years for properties with a rateable value up to and including £50,000; andlimiting backdating of bills arising from changes to the rateable values list.These measures are on top of the 2013 Autumn Statement measures that continue into 2015-16, including: allowing businesses to keep their Small Business Rate Relief for a year where they take on an additional property;a 50 per cent discount for 18 months to new occupants of vacant shops; andrelief for empty new builds.Further support to undo the previous Government’s reforms to empty property rates needs to be balanced against the targeted support that we have already provided on business rates and the overriding need to support the economy generally by reducing the deficit left by the last Administration. At the Autumn Statement, the Government announced a broader review into the structure of business rates.

Non-domestic Rates: Empty Property

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent estimate his Department has made of empty property rate avoidance in (a) the UK, (b) Lancashire and (c) Ribble Valley constituency.

Kris Hopkins: The Government is committed to tackling avoidance in the wider tax system. Business rates avoidance by some is unfair on the vast majority of ratepayers who pay what they should. The Government will publish shortly a discussion paper on the nature and scale of business rates avoidance.The Department has made no estimate of avoidance by those claiming empty property relief.

Fire Services: Pensions

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the conclusion in Dr Tony William's report entitled Normal Pension Age for Firefighters, published in December 2012, in paragraph 12.2.6, that more women are likely to drop below the required aerobic fitness standard as they age, what assessment he has made of (a) the ability of women firefighters to maintain aerobic fitness as they age relative to men and (b) whether the provisions of the Firefighters' Pension Scheme (England) Regulations 2014 disadvantage women firefighters relative to men.

Penny Mordaunt: Dr Tony Williams, Medical Director of Working Fit, was commissioned to review the Normal Pension Age for firefighters. Dr Williams found that the decline in fitness for women follows a similar rate to men when activity levels and body mass index are similar. Dr Williams also established that firefighters who remain physically active and maintain a health lifestyle should still be operational at age 60. Fifty six percent of regular and retained female firefighters are members of the New Firefighters’ Pension Scheme 2006, which already has a Normal Pension Age of 60. These women will see no change to their Normal Pension Age as a result of the reforms. Due to the transitional protections in place, no firefighter will have to work beyond their current Normal Pension Age until beyond 2022.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Indonesia

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to increase bilateral trade with Indonesia; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Hugo Swire: The Government is committed to growing trade between the UK and Indonesia. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) appointed my hon. Friend, the Member for Gloucester (Richard Graham) as Trade Envoy to Indonesia in November 2012. He has visited Indonesia six times since his appointment and has introduced British companies to senior decision makers in the Indonesian government and the private sector, as well as promoting the benefits of doing business in Indonesia at events across the UK. British exports of goods to Indonesia grew by 2.6% in 2012 and 8% in 2013 .Indonesia is also part of the Government’s Overseas Business Network Initiative, through which the British Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia provides additional complementary services to British companies seeking to do business in Indonesia. This initiative has enabled a doubling in the assistance offered to British companies.The Government announced the establishment of the UK ASEAN Business Council (UKABC) in November 2011. The UKABC’s purpose is to facilitate a step change in trade between the UK and South East Asia by raising awareness of the opportunities in the region and providing practical advice on doing business there. This year the UKABC has organised four events specifically focussed on Indonesia; representatives from the UK Trade and Investment Indonesia team or the British Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia have also participated in the UKABC’s regionally-focussed events.

Hong Kong

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations the Government has made to the government of the People's Republic of China on protests and unrest in Hong Kong; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Hugo Swire: The situation in Hong Kong has been raised multiple times since the protests began, including between the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) and President Xi, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) and the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and Lord Livingston and Hong Kong Financial Secretary John Tsang. I have personally raised this issue with Guo Yezhou, Vice Minister of the International Liaison Department of the Communist Party, and Rimsky Yuen, the Hong Kong Secretary of Justice. In addition, our officials have had regular contact on this issue with representatives from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and the government of the People's Republic of China.The Foreign and Commonwealth Office issued statements on the situation in Hong Kong on both 29 September and 2 October. I made a statement to Parliament on 13 October and also responded to debates on Hong Kong in Westminster Hall on 22 October and in the House of Commons on 2 December.

Hong Kong

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will seek assurances from the Chinese government that it recognises the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong as an international treaty, the terms of which continue to apply to the co-signatories.

Mr Hugo Swire: The Government remains fully committed to the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, lodged at the United Nations as treaty number 23391. We regularly reiterate this commitment with the Chinese government. We have made clear our legitimate interest in developments in Hong Kong under the Joint Declaration, and we do of course expect China to continue to recognise this. Our Ambassador to China recently raised this with the Chinese Vice Premier and the Chinese Vice Foreign Minister. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) recently raised this with the Chinese Foreign Minister and I personally raised it with Hong Kong’s Secretary for Justice. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) also restated our shared commitment with China as co-signatories of the Joint Declaration during Premier Li’s visit to the UK in June. The Foreign Secretary will continue to report regularly to Parliament on the implementation of the Joint Declaration.

Members: Correspondence

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he expects that a response will be sent to the letter from the hon. Member for Chesterfield to the British Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe, regarding the death of Ron Tolley, Junior.

Mr David Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) received the hon. Member’s letter on 28 November, when it arrived at our Embassy in Zimbabwe. The FCO aims to respond to all MPs' letters within 20 working days of receipt, in line with Cabinet Office guidelines.

Ukraine

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the effect of the EU ban on imports from Crimea and Sevastopol on his Department's policy on restrictions on imports from other territories.

Mr David Lidington: The European Union imposed restrictions on the import into the EU of goods originating in Crimea or Sevastopol as part of a range of measures to give practical effect to its policy of non-recognition of the illegal annexation of these territories to the Russian Federation. This is a targeted action which forms part of the EU’s wider package of measures imposed as a result of actions that have undermined the independence and integrity of Ukraine. On 17 November EU Foreign Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to further action. The EU remains ready to reverse its decisions and reengage with Russia when it starts contributing actively and without ambiguities to finding a solution to the Ukrainian crisis. The EU’s wider policy on import restrictions will continue to be assessed according to the policy objectives in each situation.

Maldives

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will raise with his Maldivian counterpart the disappearance of Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla.

Mr Hugo Swire: Our High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the Maldives has raised the disappearance of Ahmed Rilwan with the Maldives government, most recently on 11 November. We understand that the investigation continues into Mr Rilwan’s disappearance, and we continue to monitor this case closely.

Attorney General

National Fund

Norman Baker: To ask the Attorney General, what his policy is on the future of the National Fund; whether he has considered the early application of the Fund to reduce the national debt; what other options for the future of the Fund he has considered and (a) dismissed and (b) kept under consideration; and what donations have been made to the Fund in each of the last 30 years.

Mr Robert Buckland: There has been correspondence between the Charity Commission, the trustees and the Attorney General’s Office over the National Fund.The Fund is operated in accordance with its rules and section 9 of the Superannuation and Other Trust Funds (Validation) Act 1927. It is accumulating as the original donors intended.Options are being considered for the future of the Fund, consistent with its object of extinguishing or reducing the national debt. These include a possible application to the court for directions. The consideration of these options includes looking at the history of donations to the Fund. Whilst this work is on-going, it would not be appropriate to comment further.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Electronic Publishing

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent representations the Government has received from UK publishers about the share of the eBook market of online retailers.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Government is aware of concerns about some aspects of the ebook market. We have had contact with a range of market participants and have encouraged them to submit any evidence of anti-competitive behaviour to the Competition and Markets Authority.

Publishing

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment he has made of the value of the (a) domestic and (b) export publishing industry to the UK economy.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Government’s Creative Industries Economic Estimates show that in 2012 the publishing industry contributed £9.7bn to the UK economy and 223,000 jobs. In 2011 these estimates showed that exports of publishing services were £1.2bn.

Counter-terrorism

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which UK universities have agreed a Prevent strategy with their local police force.

Greg Clark: Holding answer received on 09 December 2014



Most Universities take advice from their local Prevent co-ordinator and local police and respond accordingly where risks or concerns are identified. It is the decision of the university if they wish to develop a Prevent Action Plan. All Universities are supported by BIS Regional Prevent Co-ordinators who provide training and advice, along with the local police force.

Directors

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many members of his Department's executive board are (a) white British and (b) from any other ethnic background.

Jo Swinson: All nine members of the BIS Executive Board have declared their ethnicity as white British.

Directors

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many members of his Department's executive board are disabled.

Jo Swinson: No members of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ Executive Board have declared any disabilities.

Employment Agencies

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of those engaged with agencies using the Swedish derogation who are (a) men and (b) women.

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of those engaged with agencies using the Swedish derogation who are (a) white British and (b) from any other ethnic minority background.

Jo Swinson: The exact number of agency workers in the UK who are employed on pay between assignment contracts who are men, women, white British or any other ethnic minority background is not known. Any estimated impacts of the Agency Workers Regulations were covered in the original impact assessment which can be found at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121212135622/http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/employment-matters/docs/10-582-agency-workers-directive-impact-assessment

Directors

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many members of his Department's executive board are (a) male and (b) female.

Jo Swinson: Five members of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ Executive Board are male and four are female.

Directors

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he has taken to increase representation of people from ethnic minority backgrounds on the boards of FTSE 250 companies.

Jo Swinson: My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has recently asked Trevor Phillips to start a new private sector led campaign which will look to address the lack of ethnic diversity in boardrooms, based in part on research that indicates the proportion of Black & Ethnic Minority people in leadership positions is lower than expected compared to the wider population (estimated at 5.1% and 14% respectively).

Publications

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of digitisation and online platforms on the contribution to the UK economy of the book industry.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Department has not made an assessment of the effect of digitisation and online platforms on the contribution to the UK economy of the book industry. However, the ‘UK Book Publishing Industry in Statistics’ produced by the Publishers Association (PA), shows that in the invoiced value of UK publisher sales of books fell 2 per cent in 2013 to £3.4bn, with a 5 per cent decrease in physical book sales and despite a 19 per cent growth in digital sales. Digital sales now represent 15 per cent of UK publishers’ total digital and physical book sales.

Publications

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will request the Competition and Markets Authority to initiate an inquiry into the effect of online retailers on the book publishing market.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is aware of concerns about some online retailers and book publishing. In its Draft Annual Plan for the next year it states that it anticipates ‘the CMA’s markets work will be particularly focussed on issues relating to the digital economy’. I have encouraged those with evidence of anti-competitive behaviour to submit that to the CMA which can take a decision on what action, if any, is necessary.

New Businesses

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many small businesses have been started in (a) England, (b) Yorkshire and (c) Barnsley in each year since May 2010.

Matthew Hancock: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Education Funding Agency: Skills Funding Agency

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has now made of the potential efficiency gains that could result from a merger of the Education Funding Agency and Skills Funding Agency.

Nick Boles: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) constantly keeps its delivery arrangements under review to ensure that funding of skills programmes is efficient and effective, as well as responsive to policy priorities to increase take-up of apprenticeships and traineeships for young people.   The Skills Funding Agency works closely with the Education Funding Agency on the funding of Further Education college provision and funding of apprenticeships and traineeships for 16-19 year olds. We have recently appointed Peter Lauener as joint Chief Executive of both agencies to make the most of the clear synergies between the two agencies. This exemplifies the commitment we have to promoting joined up Government. The Skills Funding Agency and Education Funding Agency share a number of services to ensure they function as efficiently as possible.   The Skills Funding Agency has recently been through significant restructuring exercises reducing staffing levels by 50% and administration budget by 37%. In addition the regional office structure was reduced from 54 offices to six offices.

Research: Finance

Mr Mike Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what funding for research and development his Department has allocated to each industry sector; and what the (a) total tax receipt and (b) proportion of total tax receipts from each of those sectors was in each of the last 10 years.

Greg Clark: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Apprentices

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many employers have been prosecuted for non-payment of the apprentice National Minimum Wage in each year since 2010.

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans he has to improve apprentice National Minimum Wage enforcement.

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to page 5 of his Department's publication, National Minimum Wage, Interim government evidence for the 2015 Low Pay Commission report, published in October 2014, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the rate of non-compliance with the National Minimum Wage (NMW) for apprentices; and what steps he plans to take to increase the rate of compliance with the apprentice NMW.

Jo Swinson: The Government is committed to the National Minimum Wage and is absolutely clear that everyone who is entitled to it should receive it. Any worker who thinks they have been underpaid should call the Pay and Work Rights Helpline on 0800 917 2368. HMRC investigates every complaint made to the helpline and calls from apprentices are prioritised for consideration.   The Government is aware that non-compliance involving apprentices is an issue and we are taking action. We are: · Ensuring that all training providers [in England] deliver on existing obligations to inform employers and apprentices of their NMW requirements. · Improving guidance and information more generally, to ensure we have clear and comprehensive information on the minimum wage rules. In England the National Apprenticeship Service includes information on the NMW in its information pack for employers taking on an apprentice. · Encouraging workers to call the Pay and Work Rights Helpline if they think they are not getting what they are legally entitled to through our communication campaign which began in Sept 2014. · Writing to level 2 & 3 apprentices in England informing them of their NMW entitlement.   We have also asked the Low Pay Commission (LPC) to consider whether we can simplify the apprentice rate structure so that it is as clear and simple as possible, in order to support those employers who take on apprentices. The LPC will report back with their recommendations in February 2015.   We are continuing to take a tough approach towards all employers that do not comply with the National Minimum Wage (NMW) law, including through making their non-compliance public. 55 employers, including some who underpaid apprentices, have been named so far and between them they owed workers a total of over £139,000 in arrears.   The Government has also increased the financial penalty percentage that employers pay for breaking minimum wage law from 50 per cent to 100 per cent of the unpaid arrears owed to workers and the maximum penalty from £5,000 to £20,000. This came into effect on 7 March 2014. We are introducing primary legislation so that the penalty can be calculated on a per worker basis which will substantially increase the penalty for some employers.There have been no prosecutions since 2010 involving apprentices. Prosecution is reserved for the most serious cases. The Government usually pursues other means, which are more effective, to achieve the key goals of getting workers paid their arrears of wages and deter employers from being non-compliant. For example, the Government policy on the naming scheme and the increase in the NMW civil penalty will have considerable reputational and financial consequences for employers who are non-compliant with the NMW. However, HMRC will refer suitable cases to prosecutors.

Department for International Development

Afghanistan

Mr John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what involvement Afghan women had in the London talks on Afghanistan in December 2014.

Justine Greening: Afghan women played a central role in the London Conference on Afghanistan and were given a platform to share their views throughout. This included at the Civil Society associated event (“Ayenda”), in the Reception, at a follow-up Ministerial breakfast with civil society, and in the main Conference Plenary itself.

Sierra Leone

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many NHS staff are currently working at the Kerry Town Ebola hospital in Sierra Leone; and how many NHS staff are scheduled to work at that hospital.

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what reports she has received on (a) the planned maximum bed capacity and (b) the number of beds currently in use at the Kerry Town Ebola hospital in Sierra Leone.

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the (a) total planned investment and (b) current total investment is by the UK in the Kerry Town Ebola hospital in Sierra Leone.

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what reports she has received on how many people have been treated for Ebola at the Kerry Town Ebola hospital in Sierra Leone.

Justine Greening: The Kerry Town Ebola open access treatment unit will have a maximum capacity of 92 beds to treat patients with Ebola. As of 10 December, 52 beds are operational, including a 12-bed facility which treats Ebola patients from HMG, international healthcare workers and Sierra Leonean healthcare professionals working in UK-sponsored facilities. As of 10 December 2014, a total of 111 patients have been treated at the Kerry Town Ebola facility.   As of 10 December 2014, 58 NHS staff have been deployed across Sierra Leone through the UK-Med register. Of these, 21 staff are currently based at the Kerry Town facility. Further volunteers may be deployed to staff this facility from early 2015. The current planned investment to construct, set up and run the Kerry Town Treatment Centre is £38 million, of which £16.2 million has been disbursed to date.

Ebola

Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, on what date Ministers and officials in her Department first met (a) Médecins sans Frontières, (b) ActionAid, (c) CARE, (d) Concern, (e) International Rescue Committee, (f) Save the Children, (g) UNICEF and (h) WorldVision to discuss Ebola.

Justine Greening: DFID Ministers and officials regularly meet representatives from Medecins sans Frontieres, ActionAid, CARE, Concern, International Rescue Committee, Save the Children, UNICEF and World Vision to discuss Ebola.

Department for Education

Children: Literacy

Mr George Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will set up an England-wide task force similar to the London Challenge to ensure that children who cannot read well are brought up to the required standard.

Mr George Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the reasons for poor literacy among primary school children from (a) low income and (b) other families; what steps she is taking to ensure that all children are able to read well when they leave primary school; and if she will make a statement.

Mr George Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will visit Bradford West constituency to observe the issue of children who are leaving primary school who are unable to read well; and if she will take steps to eradicate that problem.

Mr Nick Gibb: The Government is committed to eliminating illiteracy and wants all children to read easily, fluently and with good understanding. Our new English curriculum places a renewed focus on the requirement for pupils to learn to read through systematic synthetic phonics, as evidence shows this is the most effective approach to early reading. We do not have plans to introduce a national task force for literacy as we believe poor reading outcomes are best addressed through the implementation of the English curriculum and the other steps we have taken to improve literacy levels for all children, alongside measures to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. The Department believes that good headteachers are best placed to support the needs of their pupils. To boost the quality of phonics teaching, we have provided £23.7 million in match funding to over 14,000 schools, enabling them to buy systematic synthetic phonics products and training. We have also introduced a phonics screening check. The first three years of the check have enabled teachers to identify nearly 568,000 six-year-olds who needed extra support. For pupils who do not reach the expected level in reading by the end of primary school, we have introduced the Year 7 Catch-up Premium. This funding – £500 per pupil – enables secondary schools to deliver additional support for those pupils that most need it. The Government has also committed £8.8 billion of pupil premium funding for schools in England for the period between 2011-12 and 2015-16. The pupil premium gives schools the extra resources they need to close the attainment gap between those from poorer and wealthier backgrounds, including in reading outcomes. The 2014 Key Stage Two results show that our reforms are already having an effect: a record proportion of children (89%) reached the expected standard of reading (up three percentage points from last year). Attainment in reading has increased for disadvantaged pupils from 73% in 2011 to 78% in 2013, an increase of five percentage points. Unfortunately, pressures on the diary of my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, mean she cannot promise to visit Bradford.

Vocational Guidance: Young People

Sir Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 2.227 of the Autumn Statement 2014, how the funds to improve careers advice and support for young people will be spent.

Nick Boles: The majority of the £20 million fund to improve careers advice and support for young people announced in the Autumn Statement will be used to provide initial funding to the new company announced by my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, on 10 December. This includes a £5 million Investment Fund (as indicated in the Official Report of 10 December 2014, column 893). This will be administered by the new careers and enterprise company, into which schools, employers and voluntary organisations will bid for start-up funding for new, innovative projects and pilots to support careers advice and inspiration, as well as funding to support the scaling up of successful local approaches, or to evaluate and share learning from existing successful projects. The further detail of how the remaining £15 million will be spent and what proportion will support the work of the company will be worked through. This company, independent of Government, will support engagement between employers and schools, ensuring young people get the support they need. The Chair and Board of the company will be responsible for determining the best use of their budget.

Teachers

Liz McInnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's policy is towards the National Union of Teachers' eight steps to reduce excessive teacher workload.

Mr David Laws: The Secretary of State for Education has confirmed that reducing unnecessary workload for teachers is an absolute priority for this government. We are committed to taking action, and are exploring ways to do this with trade unions through the current programme of talks at the Department for Education. We welcome the National Union of Teachers’ contribution to the programme of talks, and their further contribution to the debate through the proposed eight-step action programme for tackling workload. We will consider carefully the proposals put forward by the NUT. These will be considered alongside the results of the recent ‘Workload Challenge’, a survey of teachers launched by the Secretary of State and the Deputy Prime Minister, which closed recently after receiving more than 40,000 responses. The results are being analysed and a programme of action will be published early next year. This government has taken steps to reduce bureaucracy and burdens on schools, but we know that there is more to be done, and we are committed to working with teachers to find solutions.

Ministry of Justice

Roads: Accidents

Mr Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were convicted of failing to stop after an accident in each police force area in each year since 2010.

Mike Penning: Driving offences can have very serious and sometimes devastating consequences for victims and their families. That is why we are looking closely at the law in this area and have announced a review of driving offences and penalties. Offenders are more likely to convicted and sent to prison in 2013 compared to 2010. The number of people found guilty for failing to stop after an accident, by police force area, in England and Wales, from 2010 to 2013 (the latest available) can be viewed in the table.Table for answerPeople found guilty for failing to stop after an accident(1), by police force area, England and Wales, 2010-2013(2)(3)  Police force area 2010 2011 2012 2013 Metropolitan Police 217 207 152 194Cumbria 44 41 37 41Lancashire 111 90 87 76Merseyside 91 74 59 55Greater Manchester 142 144 98 88Cheshire 50 54 46 38Northumbria 114 95 87 81Durham 31 32 50 38North Yorkshire 39 40 31 47West Yorkshire 208 143 141 122South Yorkshire 113 73 54 62Humberside 35 40 29 36Cleveland 9 11 16 9West Midlands 218 142 102 72Staffordshire 30 34 28 20West Mercia 219 155 170 119Warwickshire 12 16 17 16Derbyshire 74 104 68 64Nottinghamshire 27 36 43 37Lincolnshire 24 33 36 43Leicestershire 96 64 50 52Northamptonshire 75 74 87 91Cambridgeshire 62 57 35 17Norfolk 47 43 30 91Suffolk 53 79 75 67Bedfordshire 39 24 33 26Hertfordshire 13 6 8 11Essex 73 82 64 89Thames Valley 54 57 72 36Hampshire 106 79 53 48Surrey 49 50 41 61Kent 96 114 79 84Sussex 38 27 33 31City of London 4 7 - -Devon and Cornwall 42 60 31 22Avon and Somerset 29 46 35 45Gloucestershire 8 3 2 3Wiltshire 40 42 29 27Dorset 40 40 38 31Gloucestershire 56 70 63 125Wiltshire 6 9 8 6Dorset 97 90 105 88Dyfed-Powys 46 37 26 27 Total (England and Wales)2,977 2,724 2,348 2,336 (-) = Nil (1) An offence under S.170(4) Road Traffic Act 1988 (2) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. () Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice.Ref: PQ 217241

Arbitration

Jonathan Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to raise public awareness of alternative dispute resolution services; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Hughes: The Government wants people to be able to resolve disputes in a way that is quick, efficient and cost effective and wants them to have a range of options available which encourages them to not just rely on the courts. This applies to both family and civil disputes. We are committed to making sure that more people make use of mediation services to resolve family disputes arising from separation or divorce. Legal aid remains available for family mediation and for legal advice to support family mediation. To improve public awareness and to make sure that advice agencies are providing the correct information about family mediation, we have: Refreshed our public information materials about family mediation – including posters, leaflets and videos;Worked with the Family Mediation Council to fund and project manage the launch of their new website which includes information aimed at the public about family mediation and a search tool to ‘find a mediator’; Produced a marketing toolkit for family mediators, to provide tips and advice aimed at helping family mediators to market themselves; Written to MPs earlier this year to make sure they are aware of the change in the law, and understand the advantages family mediation can offer; and Created a new front sheet for relevant family court application forms which highlights the advantages of mediation over court proceedings.With regard to civil disputes, the Small Claims Mediation Service deals with monetary claims under £10,000 which are already going through the courts. If both parties agree to using mediation, they will be contacted by the Service. As most cases are dealt with by telephone, they save the time and the expense of having to go to court. In addition, the Civil Mediation Directory is an online tool listing a number of local and national civil and commercial mediation providers, all of whom are accredited by the Civil Mediation Council.

Prisons: Employment

Mr Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of (a) male and (b) female prisoners were in purposeful activity within prison for the last four years.

Andrew Selous: Up until the end of 2011-12 information was collected on the average hours per prisoner per week that prisoners spent in purposeful activity. Figures for the three years to 2011-12 are set out in the table below. Average hours of purposeful activity per prisoner per week  2009-102010-112011-12Male24.324.624.8Female27.127.326.3  Figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. Purposeful activity was discontinued as a performance indicator for prisons at the end of 2011-12 because it was not used in the day-to-day management of prisons. Figures on the above basis for subsequent periods and for the proportion of male and female prisoners in purposeful activity could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Indicators introduced into prison SLAs in respect of rehabilitation, resettlement and work in prisons provide a better demonstration of efforts to prepare prisoners for release and reduce reoffending. Too many prisoners have been passing their time in a state of idleness, and that is why under our reforms to the Incentives and Earned Privileges national policy framework, which came into effect in adult prisons on 1 November 2013, prisoners are now expected to engage in purposeful activity, as well as demonstrate a commitment towards their rehabilitation, reduce their risk of reoffending, behave well and help others if they are to earn privileges. Work in prisons is a key priority to ensure prisoners are engaged in real work whilst they are in custody. It also gives them the opportunity to learn skills and a work ethic which can increase their chances of finding employment on release, a key element to reducing reoffending. The number of prisoners working in industrial activity reported by public sector prisons increased from around 8,600 in 2010-11 to around 9,900 in 2013-14. This delivered an increase in the total hours worked in industrial activities from 10.6 million hours to 14.2 million hours, as published in the National Offender Management Service Annual Report 2013-14: Management Information Addendum: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201314.

Prisoner Escapes

Mr Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many category (a) B, (b) C and (c) A prisoners have escaped from prison in each of the last four years.

Andrew Selous: The number of escapes from custody has been falling since 1995 when central records began, despite an increasing prison population, and has fallen dramatically in the last few years, with only 8 since 2010. There have been no escapes of Category A or B prisoners from prison establishments in this period. This compares to more than 90 over the previous decade. But we are not complacent and there are rigorous security checks in place to reduce the risk of this happening. The table below shows the number of Category C prisoners who have escaped from prison establishments between 2010/11 and 2013/14. Table 1 Escapes of Category C prisoners, by year, April 2010 to March 2014YearCategory C2010/1112012/131 Figures for the number of escapes since 1995 are provided in the Prison Digest contained in the Prison and Probation Trusts Performance Statistics. This can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201314

Directors

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many members of his Department's executive board are (a) male and (b) female.

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many members of his Department's executive board are (a) white British and (b) from any other ethnic background.

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many members of his Department's executive board are disabled.

Mr Shailesh Vara: As at 30 November 2014, the Ministry of Justice executive board comprised 4 female and 3 male executive members, and 2 female and 2 male non-executive members. The department does not monitor the composition of its executive board separately from its general monitoring of the representation of protected characteristics across the Department’s workforce. Other than for gender, it is not possible to provide a breakdown of ethnicity or disability data for the Department’s executive board given the small numbers involved. This is standard practice and protects individual identification. MoJ workforce diversity data is published annually, the most recent report for the 2013-14 period can be found at; https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/378112/moj-diversity-data-report-2013-14_.pdf’

Pay

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) his Department's staff and (b) staff working for companies contracted by his Department are paid less than the Living Wage.

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) his Department's staff and (b) staff working for companies contracted by his Department who are paid less than the Living Wage are (i) women and (ii) men.

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) his Department's staff and (b) staff working for companies contracted by his Department who are paid less than the Living Wage are (i) white British and (ii) from an ethnic minority background.

Andrew Selous: Core MoJ pay proposals for the 2014 pay award were in line with the 1% cap set by HM Treasury for public sector pay awards and included an increase of 3.5% and 2.34% respectively to starting rates of pay for the lowest paid staff in Bands E and F (Civil Service equivalent AO and AA respectively). This increase to starting pay ensured that all salary levels within the core department were at or above Living Wage levels from 1 August 2014. This includes staff within the Ministry of Justice HQ, HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS), Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) and Legal Aid Agency (LAA). Living Wage rates were increased on 3rd November 2014 after implementation of the MoJ 2014 pay award. The new UK Living Wage rate has been set at £7.85 per hour and the London Living Wage rate has been set at £9.15. The department will assess this position again in 2015 as part of any pay round decisions.  Information on contractors paid less than the rate defined by the ‘Living Wage Foundation’ as a living wage is not recorded centrally. We would need to approach all of our contractors and or their agencies to get them to provide the information. This could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Prisoners: Compensation

Mr Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many compensation claims for loss or damage to prisoners' property left in the custody of the Prison Service were made in the last year for which figures are available; and how much compensation was claimed in those cases.

Andrew Selous: Compensation payments to prisoners can be made through civil litigation, internal complaints, or as a result of recommendations made by the Prison and Probation Ombudsman and by the Parliamentary Ombudsman. The National Offender Management Service does not record centrally the total number of compensation claims made for loss or damage to prisoners’ property or what the total requested amount was against these claims. To establish such details we would require an individual prison wide-survey to identify the number of individual claims and the amount of compensation requested against these claims made by each prisoner. This would be a significant exercise and could only be done at disproportionate cost.

Prisoners: Compensation

Mr Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many compensation claims for loss or damage to prisoners' property left in the custody of the Prison Service were made in the last year for which figures are available; and what the total amount was of compensation so claimed.

Andrew Selous: Compensation payments to prisoners can be made through civil litigation, internal complaints, or as a result of recommendations made by the Prison and Probation Ombudsman and by the Parliamentary Ombudsman.The National Offender Management Service does not record centrally the total number of compensation claims made for loss or damage to prisoners’ property or what the total requested amount was against the compensation claims made by prisoners in England and Wales. To establish such information we would require an individual prison wide-survey and this would be a significant exercise and could only be done at disproportionate cost.

Judiciary

Mr Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish the minutes of meetings he has held with senior members of the judiciary since 2010.

Andrew Selous: The Lord Chancellor and the ministerial team regularly meet with senior members of the judiciary, however we do not publish the minutes or notes of these meetings.

Driving Offences: Fines

Mr Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average fine imposed for (a) driving without insurance, (b) failure to stop or report a road accident, (c) failure to produce an insurance certificate, (d) failure to produce a test certificate and (e) driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence was in each of the last four years.

Mike Penning: Driving offences can have very serious and sometimes devastating consequences for victims and their families. That is why the Government is reviewing driving offences and penalties.The average fine (£) for selected offences under the Road Traffic Act 1988, in England & Wales, from 2010 to 2013 (the latest available) can be viewed in the table.Average fine (£) for selected offences under the Road Traffic Act 1988, England & Wales, 2010-2013(1)(2)   Offence 2010201120122013Failing to stop after accident - S. 170(4)   190.02198.71211.67222.04   Failing to report accident within 24 hours - S.170(4)&(7)   173.19180.36188.41204.57   Insurer failing to supply police with particulars and other offences under the regulations - S.170(7); S.165(3)   98.90148.13150.76134.44   Using motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks - S.143(2)   285.58288.50322.41346.29   Driver of a prescribed vehicle being absent without permission during examination of the vehicle - S.165(3)   118.00122.01144.80139.79 Driving, causing or permitting a person to drive other than in accordance with a licence (full or provisional) (except HGV) - S.87(1)&(2) & R.16   112.84115.49128.43138.58  (1) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.   (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.   Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice.

Employment and Support Allowance: West Midlands

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of appeals against employment and support allowance sanctions made from the West Midlands have been successful in each of the last five years.

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average time taken is to process successful appeals against employment and support allowance sanctions.

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of successful appeals against employment and support allowance sanctions took longer than six months to process.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support), administered by HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS), hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) decisions on a range of benefits.HMCTS does not record data specifically relating to appeals against sanctions imposed by DWP and does not therefore hold the information requested.

Prime Minister

Migrant Workers

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Prime Minister, with reference to his speech on immigration on 28 November 2014, what the (a) funding and (b) scope will be of the new fund to help meet additional demands on local services in areas that are heavily reliant on migrant labour.

Mr David Cameron: As I explained during my speech, details of a fund to help communities and to be taken forward in the next Parliament will be set out before the General Election.

Ministry of Defence

Libya

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what walking-out policy was in place in respect of Libyan recruits being trained at Bassingbourn; what oversight role was played by his Department; what the role of service police was in supervising those recruits; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Mark Francois: Holding answer received on 20 November 2014



I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave on 4 December 2014 to Question 213262 to the hon Member for Wrexham (Mr Ian Lucas).  



Hansard Extract 4 December 2014
(Word Document, 39.5 KB)

Army: Recruitment

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the regular Army trained strength requirement is for each year from 2014-15 to 2020-21.

Anna Soubry: Holding answer received on 10 December 2014



The trained strength requirement for the Army on 1 April 2014 was 94,100.On current plans, the trained strength requirement for each year until April 2020 are approximately:April 2015 - 86,500April 2016 - 84,300April 2017 - 83,800April 2018 - 83,000April 2019 - 82,400April 2020 - 82,400

Afghanistan

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many medical service personnel of each specialty have been deployed in support of Operation Herrick in each of the last 10 years; and what proportion of those medical personnel were reservists.

Mr Mark Francois: The numbers of UK Armed Forces medical personnel in each speciality that were deployed on Operation Herrick in each Financial Year since 2007-2008 are provided in the attached table.Like for like figures for years prior to 2007 are not available.



217204-UK AF medical personnel deployed Op Herrick
(Excel SpreadSheet, 26.5 KB)

Afghanistan

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civilian medical staff in each specialty have been deployed by Defence Medical Services to provide support to Operation Herrick in each of the last 10 years; and what the cost to the public purse was of each type of support in each such year.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry Of Defence has enabling contracts in place for contracted civilian medical support (nursing, medical support services and doctors). The total number of civilian medical personnel provided under such contracts in each of the last 10 years for Operation Herrick, broken down by their speciality and cost of each type of support, could be provided only at disproportionate cost.   The following sums were spent under civilian medical support contracts since Financial Year 2009-2010. Financial YearCost2009-2010£595,7822010-2011£941,8902011-2012£759,3002012-2013£609,4182013-2014£551,6012014-2015 (to date)£212,976TOTAL£3,670,767

Defence Medical Services

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of his Department's ability to secure appropriate clinical placements for Defence Medical Services Regular personnel within the NHS.

Anna Soubry: The Defence Medical Services (DMS) must comply with national professional standards and curricular to ensure that its personnel are appropriately qualified to undertake their medical roles and responsibilities when deployed on operations. As part of this, under contractual arrangements, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) secures appropriate placements for DMS regular personnel within the NHS, for example in one of the MOD Hospital Units, DMS facilities embedded within NHS hospitals or within NHS Trauma Centres.

Afghanistan

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what continuing military support he plans to provide to Afghanistan.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Afghanistan

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to provide military air support to the government of Afghanistan.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Work and Pensions

Employment and Support Allowance: Banff

Dr Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Banff and Buchan constituency have been in receipt of employment and support allowance payments for more than one year.

Mr Angus Brendan MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency have been in receipt of employment and support allowance payments for more than one year.

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Perth and North Perthshire constituency have been in receipt of employment and support allowance payments for more than one year.

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Moray constituency have been in receipt of employment and support allowance payments for more than one year.

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Dundee East constituency have been in receipt of employment and support allowance payments for more than one year.

Mr Mark Harper: Statistics on Employment and Support Allowance claimants are published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dwp-statistics-tabulation-tool   Guidance for users is available at:   https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance

Incapacity Benefit: Banff

Dr Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Banff and Buchan constituency are in receipt of incapacity benefit.

Mr Angus Brendan MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency are in receipt of incapacity benefit.

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Perth and North Perthshire constituency are in receipt of incapacity benefit.

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Moray constituency are in receipt of incapacity benefit.

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Dundee East constituency are in receipt of incapacity benefit.

Mr Mark Harper: Statistics on Incapacity Benefit and Severe Disablement Allowance claimants are published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dwp-statistics-tabulation-tool   Guidance for users is available at:   https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance

Food Banks

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 20 December 2012 to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Wavertree, Official Report, column 929W, on food banks, what visits Ministers of his Department have made to foodbanks in order to assess the effects of welfare reforms on foodbank use since December 2012.

Esther McVey: Holding answer received on 10 December 2014



 DWP Ministers have visited a range of organisations, including foodbanks, and discussed various topics, including welfare reform.

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have died since May 2010 while their benefit was withheld as a result of sanction.

Esther McVey: Holding answer received on 10 December 2014



 The specific information is not collected.

Furniture

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many desks are in his Department's main building; how many such desks are (a) owned and (b) leased by his Department; and what the cost is per desk of leasing.

Steve Webb: There are 2125 desks in the Department’s main building. (a) The Department does not own any of these desks. (b) Since 1998 the Department for Work and Pensions occupies the majority of its accommodation under a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) known as the PRIME Contract. Under the terms of this PFI, the Department leases back fully serviced accommodation from its private sector partner Telereal Trillium. We pay an all-inclusive unitary price, known as the Facility Price (FP), for all our furniture (including desks), fixtures, equipment and FM services. It is not possible to break FP down into individual items.

Personal Records

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps are taken to allow people to request and verify the information held on them by his Department.

Steve Webb: DWP has well published processes for customers to request access to the information that the Department holds about them; on its web pages, in its Privacy Statement that is available on-line and in hard copy, and in its published reports. Requests may be handled as business as usual or as a Subject Access Request in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. Regardless of the manner of the request and response the customer will receive the full record of their personal information relating to their request.   DWP has a duty to ensure that its customer records are fully maintained, up to date and accurate, and will routinely amend records from information that it has received in the normal course of its customer engagement or following a specific request.

Personal Records: Electoral Register

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data held by his Department is used for validation of registered voters on the electoral roll; and what steps are taken to allow people to (a) ask for and (b) verify such records.

Steve Webb: The data used for validation of registered voters on the electoral role is; name, National Insurance number, address and date of birth.   DWP has well published processes for customers to request access to the information that the Department holds about them; on its web pages, in its Privacy Statement that is available on-line and in hard copy, and in published reports. Requests may be handled as business as usual or as a Subject Access Request in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.   If the citizen is a DWP customer in receipt of a DWP maintained Social Security benefit they can update their personal details by contacting the relevant benefit area to inform them of their change of circumstances.  If the citizen is employed and not in receipt of any DWP maintained Social Security benefit then they should make a request to HMRC to update their details via completion of an on-line form which can be found at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/report-changes/individual/family.htm

Employment Schemes: Young People

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Youth Contract wage incentives have been paid to businesses based in (a) London, (b) Manchester and (c) Birmingham to date.

Esther McVey: Data collected on Wage Incentive payments does not lend itself to be broken down to the requested cities levels, with the exception of London. The following table shows the different Wage Incentive payments paid to employers in London between June 2012 and May 2014:   8 week interim claimsBalance payment between 14 & 25 weeksBalance of  18 weeks26 week  full payment30060110430Notes: Values are rounded to the nearest 10The data are split by 26 week full payments, 8 week interim payments (for smaller employers), 18 week balance payments (remaining balance following an 8 week interim payment), and payments between 14 and 25 weeks (if an employee leaves work after 13 weeks, but before completing the 26 weeks).   Data on Wage Incentives is routinely published as part of the Youth Contract statistical series. The latest publication is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/pre-work-programme-and-get-britain-working#youth-contract

Children: Maintenance

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the effect of the inclusion of a threshold of a 25 per cent change in income before child maintenance payments are adjusted in the 2012 child maintenance scheme on people paying child maintenance who are (a) self-employed and (b) in insecure work.

Steve Webb: At this point in time there are no plans to include this in the overall impact assessment of the reforms.

Employment and Support Allowance: Appeals

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total cost has been of administering successful appeals against employment and support allowance sanctions in the last five years.

Mr Mark Harper: We are unable to answer this request as we do not differentiate between successful & unsuccessful appeals to ESA when calculating activity costs.

Housing Benefit: Warrington

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in each ward in Warrington are subject to the under-occupancy penalty.

Mr Mark Harper: The information requested is not available by ward.

Jobseeker's Allowance: Disqualification

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many jobseeker's allowance (JSA) claimants have had their JSA sanctioned whilst going through the employment and support allowance appeals process.

Steve Webb: The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. It should be noted that Employment Support Allowance (ESA) is payable whilst a person is appealing against a decision finding them fit for work. However, claimants may choose to claim JSA if they wish.

Jobcentre Plus

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect on claimants of the removal of telephones from Jobcentre Plus offices.

Steve Webb: We have replaced our Customer Access Phones with a new assisted service for claimants who attend the Jobcentre and are unable to access DWP services without our help. The level of support we provide to those claimants identified as having complex needs and/or requiring additional support to access our services has not changed.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he expects to have gathered sufficient data from labour market trials to compare the effectiveness of the different approaches to in-work progression with Universal Credit.

Mr Mark Harper: The Secretary of State announced on 29 September that pilots will be delivered in Universal Credit from 2015. The first in-work progression Randomised Control Trial (RCT) will be launched in Universal Credit in 2015 in line with national roll-out. Results are dependent upon the total claimant numbers available to participate in the RCT.

Social Security Benefits

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy for his Department to collect information on the length of time taken for benefit payments to be made; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: The department uses a range of metrics to track and manage timeliness of payments within the benefits system. I refer the Rt.Hon. Member to the reply I gave to his previous Parliamentary Question UIN211860,on the 29th October 2014.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints have been made to the Merlin Mediation Service about non-compliance with the Merlin Standard since April 2012; and what the outcome was of each such complaint.

Esther McVey: Since April 2012 six cases have progressed as appropriate through the mediation process to conclusion. There are currently no cases in the mediation process.

Government Assistance: Hertfordshire

Sir Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have (a) completed the Work Programme and (b) received assistance from the Start-Up Loans scheme in North East Hertfordshire constituency.

Esther McVey: With regard to part (a) in the North East Hertfordshire constituency 210 people have completed the Work Programme up to and including June 2014. With regard to part (b) of the question the Business Bank’s Start-Up Loan programme has provided 23 loans, with a value of £75,495 to people starting a business in North East Hertfordshire.

Pension Protection Fund

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the sufficiency of the payment protection fund budget in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16 to meet current and backdated claims.

Steve Webb: I have understood the question to be about the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), which pays compensation to members of eligible pension schemes where the employer is insolvent and the scheme can not afford the PPF level of compensation. The Board of the PPF is responsible for ensuring that it has sufficient funds to pay compensation. The Fund only has to meet the costs of compensation payments as they fall due.The funding of the PPF has been designed to be robust in the long term.

Funeral Payments: Motherwell

Mr Frank Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for funeral payments were awarded by his Department in Motherwell and Wishaw constituency in each of the last three years; and what the average such award was in each of those years.

Steve Webb: DWP does not hold data on Funeral Payments at constituency level.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Air Pollution

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the 6th Report of the Environmental Audit Committee, Action on Air Quality, HC212, what steps her Department plans to take to tackle the health risks posed by air pollution.

Dan Rogerson: We are considering the recommendations in the recently released report from the Environmental Audit Committee. We are already taking steps to tackle poor air quality and have committed £2 billion since 2011 to reduce emissions from transport. We are currently revising our air quality plans for the UK to bring us into compliance with EU air quality targets in the shortest possible time.

Insects

Stuart Andrew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government plans to take to support bees and pollinators.

Elizabeth Truss: Taking action to support pollinators is a key part of my priorities to improve the natural environment and grow the rural economy.Bees and other insect pollinators are vital to the diversity of our environment. They play an essential role in contributing to our £100bn food industry and are worth £400m to the economy. They face many threats and some species are in decline.This is why we have published the National Pollinator Strategy on 4th November, a 10 year plan to build solid foundations to bring about the best possible conditions for pollinators to flourish.The Government is committed to taking action to support pollinators across all types of land across our country, enhancing the response to pest and disease risks, and to improving our evidence base.

Rivers

Stephen Mosley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of progress on improving the cleanliness of rivers.

Dan Rogerson: We have made strong progress in cleaning up our rivers. They are now in far better health than 20 years ago. For example, pollution from sewage works has gone down significantly; phosphate pollution will fall by a further fifth and ammonia by a further sixth by 2015. Overall, this government has improved over 15,000 kilometres of rivers – equivalent to the length of the Amazon and Nile combined – but we know more needs to be done.

Home Office

Asylum: Syria

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will increase the number of Syrian refugees to be re-settled in the UK; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: The Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation (VPR) scheme is designed to complement our humanitarian aid efforts and is based on need rather than fulfilling a quota; however, we have said we expect it to help several hundred people over three years, and we remain on track to deliver that commitment. This is in addition to our consideration of asylum claims lodged in the UK under our normal rules. Since the crisis began we have granted protection to more than 3,400 Syrian nationals and their dependants. In addition, the UK has been at the forefront of the international response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria, having pledged £700 million, making us the second largest bilateral donor.However, we strongly believe that we should continue to focus on aid rather than resettlement as the best way for the UK to maximise our impact, and we therefore have no current plans to expand the scheme.

Administration of Justice

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support her Department provides for victim and witness support units.

Mike Penning: Local police forces continue to support joint police/CPS Witness Care Units, by providing staff and key case information that allows the unit to support victims and witnesses throughout the progress of their case. Staffing of these units is a local operational matter and not determined nationally.The Government has recently devolved the commissioning of local victim support services to Police and Crime Commissioners, enabling these services to become more responsive to local need. In addition to this, the government has provided £40 million of stable funding up to 2015 for specialist local support services and national helplines to support victims of violence against women and girls. The Home Office contribution to this funding is £28m over the spending review period.

Offences against Children

Dr William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the devolved administrations on the scope of the inquiry into historical child sexual abuse commissioned by her Department.

Lynne Featherstone: The Independent Panel Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse will cover England and Wales. Child protection is a devolved matter so it is right for places outside England and Wales to conduct their own inquiries. Officials have already had discussions with their counterparts in the devolved administrations to ensure all enquiries led by the devolved administrations feed into the Independent Inquiry and to ensure that no information falls through the gaps.

Pay

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of (a) her Department's staff and (b) staff working for companies contracted by her Department are paid less than the Living Wage.

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of (a) her Department's staff and (b) staff working for companies contracted by her Department who are paid less than the Living Wage are (i) women and (ii) men.

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of (a) her Department's staff and (b) staff working for companies contracted by her Department who are paid less than the Living Wage are (i) white British and (ii) from an ethnic minority background.

Karen Bradley: All permanent members of staff directly employed by the Home Office are paid the Living Wage or above.All temporary agency staff are employed in accordance with the Agency Workers Regulations, which ensures parity with directly employed staff after 12 weeks.The Home Office only keeps information on the legal minimum standards of pay of staff employed by organisations contracted to provide services within the Home Office and does not keep information specifically on the Living Wage.

Police: Vehicles

Mr Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions police vehicles have been used as ambulances in (a) London and (b) England and Wales in each year since 2010.

Mike Penning: Holding answer received on 10 December 2014



Statistics on the use of police cars as ambulances are not collected by the Home Office.However, experimental data published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) publication, "Inpatients formally detained in hospitals under the Mental Health Act 1983 and patients subject to Supervised Community Treatment Annual Figures, England 2012/13", suggested that in a sample offorces, just under 74% of those detained under section 136 of the Mental HealthAct 1983 and taken to a hospital based place of safety were transported bythe police rather than ambulance.More details can be found in the HSCIC publication here: http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB12503.

Theft: Dogs

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the theft of domestic dogs.

Lynne Featherstone: The Home Office does not hold information that separately identifies thefts of domestic dogs from all other theft offences. The Home Office holds statistics on notifiable offences recorded by the police and while theft of domestic dogs is a notifiable offence, these cannot be separately identified from other offences.

HM Passport Office

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2014 to Question 216273, on HM Passport Offices, what estimate she has made of the average cost to her Department of (a) redundancy payments and (b) recruitment costs, of re-hiring a former employee.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Homicide: Young People

Mr David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people aged 25 years and under have been murdered in each (a) city, (b) borough and (c) other location in 2014 to date.

Lynne Featherstone: The Home Office does not hold the information requested. Latest available data relates to 2012/13 and is published nationally and by police force area. The data for 2013/14 will be published by the Office for National Statistics in February 2015.

Knives: Young People

Mr David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what further steps she plans to take to warn young people in cities of the dangers of carrying knives; and if she will make a statement.

Lynne Featherstone: The government is taking a number of steps to highlight the dangers of carrying knives to young people. Knife crime has fallen by 22% under this government, from 30,163 offences recorded in England and Wales in the year to June 2010 to 24,416 offences recorded in the year ending June 2014 .We are supporting Crimestoppers to update their ‘Fearless’ service, which teaches young people about the dangers. In addition, we are funding Redthread, a charity which provides youth workers in major trauma centres in London to support young people injured through violence, including stabbings. We have produced a training pack on joint enterprise which warns young people about the consequences of carrying knives and other gang violence, and we have published advice to schools and colleges to help teachers prevent violence and knife carrying. This will be adapted for primary schools. We continue to strengthen the law and send a clear message that knife possession will not be tolerated by legislating to restrict the use of simple cautions for certain offences, including knife possession, in the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill.

Older Workers

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people working in her Department are over 65 years old; and if she will make a statement.

Karen Bradley: The Annual Civil Service Employment Survey reveals that, as at 31st March 2014, there were 330 people working in the Home Department over the age of 65.

Illegal Immigrants

Jackie Doyle-Price: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate she has made of how many cases met the criteria for inclusion in the migration refusal pool before 2008; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: This Government inherited over 223,000 records - dating from before December 2008 - with very poor data quality, and no structured plan. Alongside wider work to restore control to our immigration system, particularly through abolishing the UK Border Agency, the Government initiated a programme to bring sense to this stock of old records. Having identified and taken out records relating to those people known to have left the country, as well as duplicate and erroneous records, the number of meaningful pre-2008 records is just over 89,000. Those are now being addressed in the proper way.

HM Treasury

Patents

Mr Liam Byrne: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the potential fiscal effect of the changes to the design of patent box as agreed at the recent G20 summit.

Mr Liam Byrne: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the potential effect of the recent changes to the design of patent box as agreed at the recent G20 summit on inward research and development investment.

Mr David Gauke: We have sought to ensure that the potential changes required by the proposed OECD methodology in assessing intellectual property regimes have as small an impact on the availability of the Patent Box as possible, by negotiating changes to the methodology to take account of UK concerns. At this stage it is too early to estimate the effect on inward research and development, as limited data is available on current take-up of the Patent Box due to time available for companies to file their first tax returns showing the effect of Patent Box elections.

Sovereign Wealth Funds: North of England

Paul Flynn: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his statement of 3 December 2014, Official Report, column 314, on the Autumn Statement, what the criteria are for delineation of the boundaries of the north of England for the sovereign wealth fund.

Andrea Leadsom: As set out at paragraph 2.210 of the Autumn Statement, “proposals [for the long-term investment fund from shale gas] will be brought forward in the next Parliament.”

Tax Avoidance and Evasion

Mike Crockart: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much additional tax has been collected by HM Revenue and Customs from individuals through its anti-avoidance and evasion activities since 2012.

Mike Crockart: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much additional tax HM Revenue and Customs expects to gather by March 2015 as a result of investigations into unpaid tax; and how much tax it has so gathered since May 2010.

Mr David Gauke: HMRCs compliance performance is measured using internal management information systems. This data is constructed from information derived from individual cases or activities within HMRC. These systems can be split into type of tax, but not into behaviour and customer group, as this is not a standard HMRC performance reporting metric.   The additional tax revenues collected from compliance activities by HM Revenue and Customs for each year since May 2010 is as follows.   (£bn)2010/11*2011/122012/132013/142014/15Outturns13.918.620.723.9 Target26   *Note: the methodology for calculating additional tax revenues from compliance activity changed between 2010/11 and 2011/12, and so the figure of £13.9bn is not directly comparable to later years.

Tax Avoidance and Evasion

Mike Crockart: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much additional tax has been collected by HM Revenue and Customs from large companies through its anti-avoidance and evasion activities since 2012.

Mr David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is active in assessing and tackling the risks of evasion, avoidance and error amongst large businesses. HMRC’s approach has enabled it to recover over £16billion in additional compliance revenues from large businesses between April 2012 and March 2014.

Income Tax

Mike Crockart: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what change there has been on the level of income tax paid by basic rate taxpayers in each year since 2011.

Mr David Gauke: Estimates of the amounts of income tax paid by taxpayers at the basic rate and other rates of tax in the years 2011-12 to 2014-15 are published in HM Revenue and Customs’s (HMRC’s) National Statistics table 2.5 which is available at the following internet address;   https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/306857/Table_2.5.pdf   These estimates are based on the Survey of Personal Incomes (SPI) outturn data up to 2011-12, and then projected to 2014-15 in line with the Office for Budget Responsibility's March 2014 economic and fiscal outlook.

Members: Correspondence

Mr David Winnick: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the Member for Walsall North will receive a reply to his letter of 10 November 2014 on behalf of a constituent, ref MC2014/04463.

Priti Patel: I would like to thank the Hon Member for his letter of 10 November to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and I am sorry for the delay in replying. A response will be sent to the Hon Member as soon as possible.

Department for Energy and Climate Change

Green Deal Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many households in each (a) parliamentary constituency and (b) local authority area have been issued with vouchers under the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund.

Amber Rudd: The Department will shortly be publishing the number of Green Deal Home Improvement Fund vouchers paid by Parliamentary Constituency and by administrative area, in England and Wales.This will be in the statistical release “Green Deal, Energy Company Obligation (ECO) and Insulation Levels in Great Britain, Quarterly report: to September 2014”.

Housing: Insulation

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to the Answer of 19 November 2013, Official Report, column 887W, on housing: insulation, how many installations of (a) loft insulation, (b) cavity wall insulation and (c) solid wall insulation there were in (i) 2008, (ii) 2009, (iii) 2010, (iv) 2011, (v) 2012, (vi) 2013 and (vii) 2014 to date.

Amber Rudd: Estimates of home insulation levels in Great Britain can be found at the link provided:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/green-deal-energy-company-obligation-eco-and-insulation-levels-in-great-britain-quarterly-report-to-june-2014.



Stats: Green Deal, ECO & Insulation up to June '14
(PDF Document, 1.3 MB)

Business: Energy

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps his Department is taking to provide guidance and assistance to new businesses on maximising energy efficiency measures in their premises.

Amber Rudd: Holding answer received on 08 December 2014



There are a range of new initiatives businesses can take advantage of, depending on their size and premises, although the Government does not target specific energy efficiency support specifically on new businessesThe Electricity Demand Reduction Pilot is making a total of up to £20 million available to organisations that deliver electricity savings during winter peak times by installing more efficient equipment.The recently introduced Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) makes it mandatory for large enterprises in the UK to measure and audit their energy use. The Scheme will improve awareness within large UK businesses and third-sector bodies of cost-effective energy efficiency steps they can take.In order to raise awareness of the benefits of energy efficiency amongst small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), in spring 2015 the Government will publish specific guidance, including advice on simple steps to reduce energy consumption. The Government is also taking steps to raise awareness amongst SMEs of the Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme as a voluntary tool they can use to identify energy saving opportunities.

Directors

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many members of his Department's executive board are (a) male and (b) female.

Amber Rudd: I can confirm that the Department has the following numbers of male and female members of its Executive Board:(a) 13 male;(b) 5 female.

Directors

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many members of his Department's executive board are disabled.

Amber Rudd: I can confirm that the Department does not have information regarding the disability status from the Members of Parliament who are on the executive board. As they are non-civil servants, the department does not request that information from them.Of the civil servants on the board, four have declared that they do not have a disability.

Directors

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many members of his Department's executive board are (a) white British and (b) from any other ethnic background.

Amber Rudd: I can confirm that the Department does not have information regarding the ethnicity of the Members of Parliament who are on the executive board. As they are non-civil servants, the Department does not request that information from them.Of the civil servants on the executive board, four have declared their ethnicity as white British.

Pay

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many and what proportion of (a) his Department's staff and (b) staff working for companies contracted by his Department who are paid less than the Living Wage are (i) white British and (ii) from an ethnic minority background.

Amber Rudd: I can confirm that none of the Department's staff or staff working for companies contracted by the Department are paid less than the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

Energy: Prices

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will discuss with his counterparts in the devolved administrations the effect of the number of energy suppliers on the consumer price across the UK; and where that price is (a) highest and (b) lowest.

Matthew Hancock: The Department for Energy and Climate Change has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Cabinet Office

Low Pay

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent estimate he has made of how many working people earn less than £10,600 per annum.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. 



ONS Letter to Member - Working people on £10,600
(PDF Document, 114.65 KB)

Government Departments: Meetings

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to publish minutes and lists of attendees of ministerial meetings with external organisations alongside other information available to the public on the gov.uk website.

Mr Francis Maude: There are no such plans.

Part-time Employment

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what changes there were in the number of part-time workers between May 2010 and May 2014.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. 



ONS Letter to Member - Part-Time Workers
(PDF Document, 105.41 KB)

Government Digital Service

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2014 to Question 215569, what proportion of (a) employees and (b) contract staff in the Government Digital Service are (i) black and minority ethnic and (ii) female.

Mr Francis Maude: 35% of GDS employees are female.We do not compel officials to declare information on ethnicity and our data is therefore not necessarily robust. However, of those who do declare this information, 25% declared that they were from a black/minority ethnic background.Information on contract staff is not held centrally.

Iraq Committee of Inquiry

Mr Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what date the Government has set for the publication of the Chilcot Inquiry report; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Francis Maude: The Iraq Inquiry is independent of Government. Timing of the delivery of its report to the Prime Minister is a matter for the Inquiry.

Food Banks

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much Government funding has been given to support foodbanks in the UK in each year since May 2010.

Mr Rob Wilson: Through the work of the Office for Civil Society we have worked with and supported several organisations that have initiatives related to food security and food waste but figures are not specific to funds allocated to foodbanks.Local authorities can also provide assistance to any individual who needs it. Some councils do subsidise food banks in their area, but how each local authority provides this support is a matter for local discretion as they are best placed to assess local need.

Average Earnings: Clwyd

Susan Elan Jones: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the (a) mean and (b) median earnings are of people in full-time work in Clwyd South constituency.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. 



ONS Letter to Member - Median Earnings
(PDF Document, 98.03 KB)

Department for Culture Media and Sport

Television: Licensing

Steve Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to ensure that the television licence fee is not deducted by Direct Debit from the accounts of those aged over 7l; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Edward Vaizey: There are no such plans.

Telecommunications

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with Ofcom about the adequacy of their existing powers to implement gaining provider-led switching for all communications services.

Mr Edward Vaizey: I meet regularly with Ofcom. Ed Richards in his evidence to the Communications Committee on 18 November 2014 confirmed that Ofcom had the necessary power to deliver gaining provider led switching for mobile services. However the Regulator has stated that they will undertake a review of the consumer experience of switching to identify the most appropriate powers to use, to address consumer protection and competition issues. The Government will assist in this assessment and will work closely with Ofcom to identify any areas where its powers could be improved.

Telecommunications

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to his Department's strategy paper Connectivity, Content and Consumers, what powers (a) his Department and (b) Ofcom have to implement the policy of establishing gaining provider led switching (i) for mobile and (ii) across other communications services.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Communications Act 2003 confers functions on Ofcom to make provisions about the regulation of the provision of electronic communications services. Section 45 of the Act gives Ofcom the power to set general conditions on service providers. Section 51 specifies that one of the reasons for imposing such conditions is to protect the interests of consumers of electronic communications services. These statutory powers apply to all electronic communication services and there is therefore no doubt that Ofcom has sufficient powers to make provision for a gaining provider led model for voice and data services switched between mobile network operators and voice and broadband services switched over the KCOM copper network.

Christmas Trees

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many Christmas trees his Department will purchase in 2014; and what the cost of such trees will be.

Mrs Helen Grant: DCMS will not purchase any Christmas trees in 2014.

Parthenon Sculptures

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department were consulted by the British Museum about the loan of part of the Parthenon Sculptures to the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.

Mr Edward Vaizey: No. The loan of an item from the collection of the British Museum is a matter for the Trustees of the British Museum.

Public Libraries

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many libraries have faced the prospect of closure or being run by volunteer groups in the period (a) 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014 and (b) since 1 April 2014.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Public Libraries

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to publish the Sieghart report on the public library service.

Mr Edward Vaizey: As I stated at the Westminster Hall debate on 19 November about Public Libraries (England), we intend to publish the Independent Library Report in the next few weeks.

Department of Health

NHS: Staff

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many and what proportion of NHS medical practitioners at the latest date for which such figures are available identified as (a) white British and (b) from any other ethnic group.

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many and what proportion of staff in clinical leadership positions within the NHS at the latest date for which such figures are available identified as (a) white British and (b) from any other ethnic group.

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many and what proportion of NHS staff in administrative leadership roles at the latest date for which such figures are available identified as (a) white British and (b) from any other ethnic group.

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many and what proportion of NHS staff in administrative or support roles at the latest date for which such figures are available identified as (a) white British and (b) from any other ethnic group.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The attached table shows the number and proportion of National Health Service medical practitioners, staff in clinical leadership positions, staff in administrative or support roles and staff in administrative leadership roles by ethnicity. The data is from the latest provisional monthly workforce statistics for August 2014 and the provisional NHS staff earnings estimates, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.   Some staff will be counted twice within this table due to the overlap between the specified staff groups. 



Number and proportion of staff by ethnicity
(Excel SpreadSheet, 24.84 KB)

Health Services: Ethnic Groups

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to improve health outcomes for people who identify as (a) Gypsy, Roma or Travellers and (b) being from other ethnic minority background.

Jane Ellison: The Inclusion Health programme seeks to improve the way we meet the health needs of some of the most vulnerable groups, including Gypsies, Travellers and Roma. We set up the National Inclusion Health Board, an expert group to provide focus and leadership on the needs of those most vulnerable to poor health outcomes. The board has published guidance on commissioning inclusive health services by ensuring local planning tools – such as the joint strategic needs assessment – are sufficiently comprehensive to take account of the needs of these groups. It has also sought to identify these groups in data collections across the country to provide the intelligence needed to support health and wellbeing strategies for these groups. Other work is in hand, on some of the social circumstances that shape the health outcomes of Gypsies, Travellers and Roma, and on the education and training of health professionals for working with these vulnerable groups.   We have introduced an Equality Delivery System toolkit to help National Health Service organisations comply with the public sector equality duty. This toolkit is designed to support NHS commissioners and providers to deliver better outcomes for all patients and communities, including those from ethnic minority groups. It allows NHS organisations to monitor their equality performance jointly with their patients, communities and staff, in regard to each of the nine characteristics given protection under the 2010 Equality Act, including race.

Health Services

Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how he plans to implement parity of esteem between physical and mental health services (a) financially and (b) otherwise.

Norman Lamb: The Government’s commitment to parity of esteem has been made explicit in legislation, as well as the NHS Constitution.   We have extended the legal right to choice in mental health so people with mental health problems will have the same choice for their care as they do for their physical health.   We estimate that funding for mental health has increased by approximately £302 million in 2014-15, total mental health spending rose from £11.362 billion in 2013-14 with £11.664 billion planned in 2014-15.   The Department and NHS England continue to work together to ensure that there are consistent messages to commissioners and providers about the importance of delivering parity of esteem for mental health service users.   Monitor and NHS England are responsible for setting the national tariff arrangements and are working together to develop a national payment system for mental health which promotes improving outcomes and recovery.   Currently, prices for mental health services are agreed locally. However, mental health clusters have been developed as the currencies underpinning payment for mental health services.   Local commissioners and mental health providers are encouraged to use the clusters as the basis for reaching financial settlements and we know that some health economies are already using clusters as the basis for payment for mental health services.   Public Health England has also made a commitment to addressing parity of esteem which includes working to promote good mental health and preventing mental health problems.   In our new five-year plan for mental health, Achieving Better Access to Mental Health Services by 2020, we identified £40 million additional spending this year and freed up a further £80 million for 2015-16. This will, for the first time ever, enable the setting of access and waiting time standards in mental health services and includes new targets to make sure that, by 2016, at least 50% of young people referred for early intervention in psychosis services will start treatment within two weeks.   There has been sustained investment in mental health over the course of this parliament. We have invested £400 million in Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) for adults and £54 million over the four year period from 2011-2015 in the children and young people’s IAPT programme to transform child and adolescent mental health services.   We will also be investing £30m a year over the next five years in England to improve services for young people with mental health problems. This will place particular emphasis on eating disorders.   We have invested £2 million in nine street triage pilots where police and mental health professionals work together to support people in mental health crisis access safe, appropriate care and we have committed £25 million in 2014-15 to commission 10 trial sites delivering on a new standard service specification for liaison and diversion services in England.

Mental Health Services

Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress he has made on introducing tariffs on mental health services.

Norman Lamb: Monitor and NHS England are responsible for setting the overall national payment system arrangements. However, payment for mental health services are agreed locally and underpinned by mental health clusters. These clusters help commissioners and provider agree costs by setting out the resources required to deliver mental health care.   Monitor and NHS England published the national payment system arrangements for 2015-16 for statutory consultation on 26 November. The payment systems arrangements for 2015-16 give a clear signal to the mental health sector to implement local payment models which support recovery and outcomes and reflect the needs of local communities. To support this move Monitor plans to revise its guidance to be clearer on how mental health services should be paid for and has published example payment models for mental health services.   Monitor has published its long-term pricing strategy for the development of the national tariff and is working with partners to develop further the payment system for mental health.

Mental Health Services

Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what budget was allocated to mental health (a) in England and (b) to Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust in each of the last five years; and what budget is expected for 2014-15.

Norman Lamb: The aggregate expenditure on mental health disorders by primary care trust (PCT), for financial years 2008-09 to 2012-13 is set out below.   Financial YearExpenditure (£ billion)2008-099.792009-1010.612010-1110.962011-1211.162012-1311.28 Source: NHS England Programme Budget Data Aggregate PCT expenditure is not yet available for 2013-14. However, NHS England advises that total mental health spending in 2013-14 was £11.362 billion with an estimated £11.664 billion planned in 2014-15, an increase of £302 million.   Foundation Trust budget information is not held centrally.   The table below shows mental health spend for Norfolk and Suffolk Primary Care Trusts, for the years 2008-09 to 2012-13.   Financial YearNorfolk (£ million)Suffolk (£ million)2008-09138902009-10143982010-11147982011-121891002012-13150100 Source: NHS England Programme Budget Data

Hospitals: Inspections

Mr David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what monies have been set aside to fund litigation proceedings launched by independent practitioners in response to the recently acknowledged failings of the Care Quality Commission's Intelligent Monitoring methodology.

Norman Lamb: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. As the CQC is responsible for developing its own methodology for assessing whether providers are meeting the registration requirements, the CQC would be responsible for any legal proceedings that arose in relation to that methodology.   The CQC has advised that it will deal with any legal proceedings that may be brought against it. It has made no specific arrangements, as each case must be reviewed on its merits.

Influenza: Warrington

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in (a) Warrington and (b) Warrington North constituency have received an influenza vaccine in each year since 2009-10.

Jane Ellison: Information on the number of people who received an influenza vaccine is only available for Warrington. The total number of general practitioner registered persons reported to have received influenza vaccine over the past five seasons is as follows:   - 2009-10 (pandemic influenza) Warrington Primary Care Trust (PCT) – 17,323 people vaccinated; - 2010-11 Warrington PCT – 34,214 people vaccinated; - 2011-12 Warrington PCT – 35,961 people vaccinated; - 2012-13 Warrington PCT – 36,182 people vaccinated; and - 2013-14 Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group – 39,275 people vaccinated.

Hospitals: Inspections

Mr David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what qualifications are required for working on, designing or undertaking analytical processing under the heading of Intelligent Monitoring; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. The CQC is responsible for the recruitment of its own workforce.   The CQC has advised that it ensures that all staff appointed have the necessary skills and expertise to fulfil their roles.   Among the skills, qualifications and experience required for the role are:   - Excellent quantitative and qualitative analytical skills and previous experience of working in an analytical role. - Experience of interpreting and presenting data sets to a wide range of audiences. - Excellent communication skills, both written and oral with experience of preparing and presenting high-level reports on complex issues. - Understanding of how intelligence is used in a risk based regulatory model. - Knowledge and understanding of health and/or social care data sets. - Experience of using management information systems to ensure an integrated information approach. - Experience of working with consistent analytic frameworks.   The CQC’s Primary Medical Services Intelligent Monitoring team consists of six analytical staff. The team draws on particular expertise from across the CQC, for example clinical, sector policy and statistical advice.

Fracking

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential for fracking of shale gas to result in radon contamination of homes.

Jane Ellison: A number of potential radon exposure pathways, including the presence of radon in homes, were considered in the recent report by Public Health England into the potential public health consequences of exposure to chemical and radioactive pollutants as a result of shale gas extraction.   The report is available at the following address:   https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/shale-gas-extraction-review-of-the-potential-public-health-impacts-of-exposures-to-chemical-and-radioactive-pollutants

Poultry Meat

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that consumers are protected from high levels of campylobacter in poultry.

Jane Ellison: The United Kingdom Food Standards Agency (FSA) is working in partnership with industry to tackle Campylobacter, exploring a range of interventions targeted at different points in the food chain to reduce contamination levels before the meat reaches the consumer. Also, in publishing the quarterly results of its UK-wide microbiological survey of Campylobacter contamination in fresh whole chilled chickens at retail sale, the FSA is maintaining consumer awareness of the issue and encouraging retailer action.   The FSA has provided guidance for consumers on the safety measures that they can take to reduce their risk of spreading and contracting Campylobacter from raw poultry in the home and this featured in its Food Safety Week campaign earlier in the year.